Imaginary Lover // Camren Fanfiction

Chapter 11

The hissing of the water overflowing from the pot onto the cooker's surface brought Lauren sharply back to the present. She raced across the kitchen to lift the pot off the hob and lowered the heat. She poked at the steamed chicken and vegetables, wondering where her head was today.

"Luke, dinner," Lauren called.

She had collected Luke from her father's after work, although she had been in absolutely no mood to drive down that road after sobbing in her office. She hadn't cried in years. She didn't know what was happening to her over the last few days, her mind just kept drifting and she never drifted. She always had such stable, controlled thoughts. Nothing at all like her behavior today at the office.

Luke shuffled into the kitchen already dressed in his Spider-Man pajamas. He stared sadly at the table. "You didn't set a place for Camila again."

Lauren opened her mouth to protest, but stopped herself in time, remembering the advice the Web sites had given. "Oh, didn't I?"

Luke looked at her in surprise.

"Sorry, Camila," she said, taking out a third plate. What a waste of food, she thought, spooning broccoli, cauliflower, and potatoes onto her plate. "I'm sure she doesn't like chicken, so this will have to do." She placed the plate of leftover vegetables down opposite her.

Luke shook his head. "No, she said she really does like chicken."

"Let me guess," Lauren said, cutting a corner off her own, "chicken's her favorite."

Luke smiled. "He says it's her favorite kind of poultry."

"Right." Lauren rolled her eyes. She watched Camila's plate, wondering how on earth Luke was going to manage to eat a second plate of vegetables. It was difficult enough trying to get him to eat his own vegetables.

"Camila said she had fun in your office today," Luke said, forking broccoli into his mouth, chewing quickly and making a face in disgust. He swallowed quickly and gulped back some milk.

"Did she?" Lauren smiled. "What was so fun about my office?"
"She liked the chair-spinning," he replied as he speared a baby potato. Lauren stopped chewing and stared at Luke. "What do you mean?" Luke popped the potato into his mouth and munched. "She says spinning around in Keana's chair is her favorite."
Lauren for once ignored the fact that he was speaking with his mouth full. "Did you speak to Keana today?" Luke loved Keana and sometimes called to chat to her when Ariana called the office to check a detail withLauren.

He knew Lauren's office number by heart—she had insisted he learn it as soon as he learned his numbers—so it was quite possible he might have called, missing his little chats with her while Ariana was away. That must have been it, she thought, relieved.

"Nope."


"Did you speak to Vero?"

"Nope."
The chicken suddenly tasted like cardboard in her mouth. She swallowed it quickly and put down her knife and fork. She watched Luke eat, lost in thought. Camila's plate went untouched, unsurprisingly. "Did you speak to Taylor today?" She studied his face. She wondered if Taylor's lit- tle role-play in her office earlier had anything to do with Luke's new obses- sion with Camila. Knowing Taylor, she would have continued to taunt her, had she found out about an invisible friend.

"Nope."

Perhaps it was just a coincidence. Perhaps Luke was just guessing about the chair-spinning. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps. Where had all her certainties suddenly gone?

"Don't play with your vegetables, Luke. Camila told me to tell you that they are good for you." She might as well use the Camila situation to her advantage.

Luke started laughing.
"What's so funny?"
"Camila says that all mums use her to make their kids eat vegetables." Lauren raised her eyebrows and smiled. "Well, you can tell Camila that's because mums know best." Her smile faded; well some mums at least. "Tell her yourself." Luke giggled.
"Right, then." Lauren faced the empty chair ahead of her. "Where do you come from, Camila?" She leaned forward and spoke as if addressing a child.

Luke started laughing at her and she felt silly. "He's from Ekam Eveileb."

It was Lauren's turn to laugh. "Oh, really? And where's that?" "Far, far away," Luke said.

"How far? Like Donegal-far?" She smiled.
Luke shrugged, already bored with the conversation.

"Hey." Lauren looked at Luke and laughed. "How did you do that?" "Do what?"
"Take a potato from Camila's plate?"
"I didn't." Luke frowned. "Camila ate it."

"Don't be sil—" She stopped herself.

Later that evening, Luke lay on the floor of the living room humming that song while Lauren drank a cup of coffee and stared at the television. It was a long time since they had done that. Usually they went their own separate ways after dinner. Usually they didn't talk so much during the meal either, but then usually Lauren didn't humor Luke by playing silly games. She began to regret what she had done. She watched Luke coloring with his crayons on the floor. She had put down a mat so that he wouldn't dirty the carpet and although she hated when he played with his toys outside the playroom, she was glad that he was playing with some toys that she could at least see. Every cloud and all that. She turned her attention back to her house makeover show.

"Lauren." She felt the tap of a little finger on her shoulder.
"Yes, Luke."
"Drew this for you." He handed her a brightly colored picture. "It's of me and Camila playing in the garden."
Lauren smiled and studied the drawing. Luke had written their names over two matchstick-like women, but what came to her as a surprise was the height of Camila. She was over twice the size of Luke and was dressed in a blue T-shirt, blue jeans, and blue shoes, and had brown hair and great big brown eyes. What looked like black stubble lined her jaw and she held hands with Luke with a big smile on her face. She froze, not quite knowing what to say. Shouldn't his imaginary friend be the same age as he was?

"Eh, Camila is very tall for only being six, isn't she?" Maybe he had drawn him larger than life because he was so important to him, she reasoned.

Luke rolled around the floor giggling. "Camila always says there's nothing only about being six and anyway she's not six." He laughed loudly again. "she's old like you!"

Lauren's eyes widened in horror. Old like her? What kind of imaginary friend had her nephew created?